Clear Choice Hearing Solutions | Hearing Center Interview

Susan Bolgiano, HIS, wasn’t planning on going back into the medical field. But when she decided to re-enter the job force after her kids graduated from high school, she answered an ad for help in the hearing healthcare profession and the rest – as they say -- is history.

“I ended up falling in love with the profession,” Bolgiano said.

Today, she is the owner of Clear Choice Hearing Solutions, a hearing center that strives to deliver quality service to the residents of Jasper.

“It has to be A-1 care. We go over and above what is required by offering to go to people’s homes that are too ill to travel,” Bolgiano said, sharing that she recently drove 70 miles to hook up a patient’s telephone to work with her hearing aid. “It’s not about the hearing aid. It’s not about the money. It’s about that particular person being treated in every aspect.”

Susan Bolgiano, HIS

Bolgiano said she decided to go into private practice so she could offer more choices for her patients. “It’s something to branch out on your own,” she admitted, “but I have amazing support from this community. My church is also emotionally backing me.”

She said her biggest challenge is convincing her patients not to wait if they have an issue. “My pet peeve is when I hear their hearing aids are sitting in the drawer because they didn’t want to bother me. I can’t fix their problems if they don’t tell me what they are.

Bolgiano’s favorite part of the job is seeing the expression on people’s faces when they treat a hearing loss and hear something they haven’t heard in a long time.

“We just fit my 55 year-old husband,” she said. “We were sitting on the front porch and he said “can you hear that? I can hear the bees! I haven’t heard the bees in so long.” When you can help the people that you love, it’s even sweeter.”

Another one of Bolgiano’s favorite hearing device success stories involves a local police officer – with a no-nonsense attitude. “He came in, not joking and so matter-of-fact because he didn’t think anything could be done,” Bolgiano said. “I hooked him up to some devices and by the time he left, he was joking with us and laughing. His personality had completely changed. He said the hearing instruments made his job so much easier – now he can hear approaching cars.”

Clear Choice Hearing Solutions is the only hearing center in the area that accepts Medicaid. “We don’t make any money, but we consider it a community service,” Bolgiano said. In addition, the staff – which consists of her son and daughter-in-law, participates in community health fairs, visit nursing homes and make house calls, when necessary. They are a member of the Chamber of Commerce and Bolgiano just finished her second year as president of the local Lion’s Club.

Bolgiano says it’s just part of being a good community partner in the town of 7,000 residents. “We’re locally owned and operated. That’s a big deal around here.”

To contact this clinic, read reviews or for more information regarding locations, hours of operations or methods of payment, please visit the Healthy Hearing professional section: Clear Choice Hearing Solutions.